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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22502464">Ambrosial</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/devdevlin/pseuds/devdevlin'>devdevlin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidental Mating, Alpha Kylo Ren, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben Solo is Not Nice, Boss/Employee Relationship, But Mostly Smut, Co-workers, Dev writes Reylo, Enemies to Lovers, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Mating, Mating Bond, Mildly Dubious Consent, Miscommunication, Omega Rey (Star Wars), POV Rey (Star Wars), Rey likes the way Ben smells, Smut, with a bit of plot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 18:07:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,001</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22502464</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/devdevlin/pseuds/devdevlin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Somewhere in the Calvary, there's an Alpha who smells like heaven.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, implied Armitage Hux/Finn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>91</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>503</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Erm... long time Reylo fan, first time author. I don't really know what I'm doing here, to be honest, but I've been wanting to write something Reylo for so so long, so........  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯<br/>Not sure if A/B/O is still a thing people are into these days, but, what the hell man, I'm going all in. Is this more of a porno than a story? Yes. Should I be doing this? No. Will I do it anyway? You betcha.</p><p>(Also, please note that I've just gone and pulled hospital names from a hat--any plot likeness, location likeness, or implied departmental deficiencies is simply a coincidence)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There it is again.</p><p>That <em>smell.</em></p><p>Rey breathes in deeply, as deeply as she can while trying to keep it inconspicuous, and nods absently at what Finn's saying.</p><p>"—and I don't know who the hell Hux thinks he is, but he can't just come in here and treat me like this. There are other people in the department too! The mix up wasn't only<em> my</em> fault, I mean—there's Rose and there's Kaydel and there's you. It got past <em>all </em>of us, not just—"</p><p>Rey fights to keep her eyes open as she takes another deep breath.</p><p>It's a smell Rey has become familiar with over the past year; heavy, musky, almost, and when she breathes it in through her mouth, she can feel it coating her tongue, can taste the salt.</p><p>It makes her mouth water.</p><p>"—doesn't do it to anyone else. He doesn't even treat Poe this way, and everyone thinks <em>he's</em> an ass." Finn growls in frustration, though Rey doesn't hear it. "I just don't know what his <em>deal</em> is, he's had it out for me ever since—"</p><p>She doesn't know who it is, who smells like waking on a warm summer's day, but whoever it is frequents to the local hospital intermittently. A few times a month, maybe.</p><p>Each time she's caught a whiff of the scent, Rey has spent a shameful amount of time thinking about following it and tracking whoever it is down. But, though she considers it every time, she's never done it. She isn't a slave to her biology, and refuses to let some wonderful-smelling stranger change that, thank you very much.</p><p>And so, aside from the fact that whoever it is <em>must </em>be an Alpha, Rey knows absolutely nothing about the one to whom the scent belongs.</p><p>Nothing, except for the fact that she wants to <em>lick </em>them.</p><p>She wants to lick them <em>everywhere</em>, their fingers, their hair, their skin, their sweat—</p><p>"—barely even spoken to the guy, and he treats me like—"</p><p>And fuck, she's told herself not to time and time again, but she can't help it. She can't help but imagine the one who's scent has her sweating and the muscles in her abdomen clenching, the one who's scent she dreams about.</p><p>Perhaps he's a doctor.</p><p>Perhaps she's a nurse.</p><p>Perhaps he has dark hair and blue eyes, or perhaps her hair reaches her waist and she has warm skin like coffee.</p><p>Rey doesn't mind, she thinks. It doesn't matter what they look like, who they are, not when they smell so deep and sinful, like sweat and like <em>slick—</em></p><p>"—and you know what, Rey? It's just <em>typical</em>." At last Finn pauses from his rant to look at her. Rey blinks and tries her best to look as if she'd heard what he was saying. "Fucking Alphas," he spits.</p><p>Rey clears her throat and tries to ignore the warm throbbing at the base of her neck.</p><p>Oh.</p><p>Oh yes.</p><p>Fucking Alphas indeed.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ahah i still have no idea wtf i'm doing<br/>also, i was bound to write a 'science' fic eventually, don't judge me</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It isn't until it reaches time for her mid-afternoon coffee break that the delicious scent she'd picked up on in the morning in the main hospital entrance has diluted out enough to become undetectable, and Rey can finally again focus on her work. And it's a good thing, too, because the laboratory she'd somehow managed to snag a technical position in is <em>swamped</em>, as it typically tends to be on Tuesdays, and Poe looks just about ready to deck someone.</p>
<p>It isn't what Rey dreamed of when she first specialised in medical science, a tech job that she was far too overqualified for in a poorly funded public hospital. But the people she worked with were kind, and diagnosing sick people was fulfilling enough, and, well... work in science was a rare thing to find for the brightest in the field, let alone, for an Omega.</p>
<p>"You're so lucky," she'd been told time and time again.</p>
<p>"Be grateful for what you have," the professors at her college had told her after she'd expressed her desire to be a professor, too.</p>
<p>
  <em>Pah.</em>
</p>
<p>After centuries of prejudice and oppression toward Omegas, a minimum wage job where she's run off her feet is 'lucky'.</p>
<p>The Calvary—the old, clammy public hospital on the outskirts of the city—isn't a large one, not by a long shot, but as it happens to be one of the very few places in the state that offers personalised genetic testing, its laboratories are run as hard as any public hospital in the country. But despite this, it has the same measly budget as any other government-funded hospital.</p>
<p>It makes for exhausting hours and conspicuously absent lunch breaks, but even still... it's better than starving. It's better than what she had before her job with Plutt.<br/><br/>"Have you seen this?" Finn asks the moment she reaches the staff office in the centre of the labs.</p>
<p>"This is the first time I've gotten my gloves off all day Finn, so I doubt it."</p>
<p>"<em>This</em>." He gestures at his computer screen. "Email from Hux."</p>
<p>At the mention of Hux, Rey sighs. There were only two things that worked Finn up to the point of him bordering on unbearable; the slushie machine at the local movie theater when it was stuck in 'defrost' mode, and Hux.</p>
<p>Still, the craving for office gossip proves too much to resist, and so, Rey leans over Finn's shoulder and eyes the text on the screen.</p>
<p>
  <strong>While it shouldn't require reiteration—</strong>
</p>
<p>Rey snorts seeing the lack of greeting address on the email.</p>
<p>
  <strong>—it has come to my attention that there are those who are electing to remain ignorant to the ban of the use of mobile devices within the laboratories. This is the final reminder that will be issued<em>: no mobile electronic devices are to be used within the laboratory, under any circumstances</em>. </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>The next gloved staff member who is seen within a two-foot radius of a mobile phone will be issued with a formal warning.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Dr. Armitage Hux</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>B.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D., MD.</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>Division Head, Clinical Genetic Services,</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>Southern Health District</strong>
</p>
<p>"Huh."</p>
<p>"This is a personal attack," declares Finn.</p>
<p>Rey raises an eyebrow. "I don't think I saw a name anywhere in—"</p>
<p>"No, look! It's only been sent to us, and who else uses their phone in the lab?"</p>
<p>"Well, everyone—"</p>
<p>"Fucking Hux. Fucking Alphas."</p>
<p>"It could be for Kaydel, her entire life is shared with the people of Instagram. Besides, he's sent it to all of us, and look—" Rey jabs her finger at the screen. "—Solo, too."</p>
<p>Finn's scowl doesn't move an inch. "He <em>has </em>to send it to Solo, it's a formality."</p>
<p>"Maybe he's sent it to Solo for circulation at Heartstone. He probably just knows that Poe can't be trusted to pass on emails. I'm sure it's not just us." She shrugs.</p>
<p>Heartstone is the sister hospital to the Calvary smack in the centre of the city. Their bigger, better-funded, higher-performing sister hospital.</p>
<p>Finn blinks at her and huffs through his nose. "This is a personal attack."</p>
<p>"Okay." She can see she's not going to win this one. "I'm popping out quickly to Jitterbugs for a coffee. You want anything?"</p>
<p>"How about a new job," Finn mutters.</p>
<p>Although she too could go for one of those, Rey laughs. "One cappuccino, coming up."</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Rey's barely had time to get her samples ready for their run in the thermalcycler that afternoon before there's a quiet knock on the door frame to the lab. She looks up, peeling her safety glasses off to see Poe's head poking in through the cracked door.</p>
<p>"Conference call," he says, and then, he's gone as quickly as he'd arrived.</p>
<p>Rey rolls her eyes. Like she didn't have enough to do already.</p>
<p>She puts the samples in the machine and hits 'run' in the hopes that the conference call won't last for more than half an hour, before pulling off her gloves and peeling of her lab gown.</p>
<p>Waiting for her in Poe's office at the far side of the floor is the rest of their small department. Finn, Kaydel and Rose are already seated by the back of the room, while Poe sits at the front, playing with the settings on the monitor.</p>
<p>Rey darts in, not wanting the call to start before she's seated, and takes a place at the back with the others, choosing the spot furthest away from Poe.</p>
<p>It isn't that she doesn't like Poe. In terms of bosses, he's easily the best she's ever had, but it's just... he can be... <em>uncomfortable</em>. Especially in his office, where even the carpet seems to carry the salty aroma of Alpha.</p>
<p>She knows he doesn't mean to be so overwhelming, just as she doesn't mean being more attentive when he speaks to her than the others, but that's just the thing about Alphas. Even with her religious routine of taking her suppressants, and even with the regulations set in place by human resources, and regardless of whether they're mated or not, they can be... a bit much.</p>
<p>Though, mated is always easier to be around.</p>
<p>And so, Rey keeps her distance, grateful the rest of the department are Betas—it's better for everyone that way. Poe understands.</p>
<p>Poe, once he’s seemingly happy with the computer settings, gestures at Kaydel to close the door, and if those at the other hospital had sensed it, the screen lights up the moment the door has latched closed. In the centre of the view, waiting with his arms folded, is the image of the familiar ginger head of hair that can only belong to Hux.</p>
<p>Rey glances at Finn from the corner of her eye and has to purse her lips to keep her laugh at his expression contained.</p>
<p>"Dameron," Hux drones in greeting, completely ignoring the four others in the room, and Finn rolls his eyes so far back that his irises disappear completely.</p>
<p>"Hux," Poe greets equally coldly in return, folds his arms over his chest. "Solo."</p>
<p>At Poe's greeting, Rey frowns and searches the screen, and true enough, there at the back of the room at the other hospital behind Hux, sits a dark, poorly-postured blob that must belong to Solo.</p>
<p>Great.</p>
<p>As if a conference call with Hux wasn't bad enough. Solo is the <em>worst</em>.</p>
<p>Well... that might not be fair. <em>Technically</em>, Rey hasn't had the fortune of actually meeting Ben Solo—not <em>really—</em>but even still, she knows enough about him. His reputation precedes him. Thanks to Rose, who'd transferred to join them from Heartstone, she'd heard enough to know that he made Poe seem like a puppy.</p>
<p>That, and she's learned from experience that he's a terror to have on conference calls.</p>
<p>"Dameron," Solo slurs, and he does it in such a relaxed, entitled, <em>Alpha </em>sort of way, that this time, Rey is the one to roll her eyes.</p>
<p><em>Fucking Alphas</em>.</p>
<p>"Wasn't expecting to hear from you today," Poe says.</p>
<p>"Wasn't expecting another fuck up from you either, but here we are," Solo mutters.</p>
<p>Poe loudly snaps his jaw shut. "From us?" he manages from between his teeth. "A fuck up, from <em>us?</em>"</p>
<p>"That was an urgent sample, Dameron. The patient can't come back until next week to be bled again. Another flare, and they could be dead by then—"</p>
<p>"The last time I checked, it isn't <em>us </em>that organises the shipping of the samples. Take it up with your collection team—"</p>
<p>"The collection team? The collection team did their job; the sample was sitting at room temperature for <em>fourteen hours</em>, because <em>you </em>didn't pick it up—"</p>
<p>"We never got the call—"</p>
<p>"Whether you get a call or not doesn't matter! You should always be checking!" Solo is yelling now, and even though he's miles away and his image is only a blurred blob on a small screen, the skin on her neck prickles and the muscles in Rey's back contract, pulling her in on herself, making herself smaller.</p>
<p>
  <em>Alpha is angry. </em>
</p>
<p>"The entire purpose of the implementation of the booking system was to prevent exactly this sort of shit from happening! And yet your team let it the fuck through! Again!"</p>
<p>"We never got word from Phasma—"</p>
<p>"Phasma's a fucking lab tech! What the fuck does she know? <em>Your </em>job is to check, that's why you're on four times her wage!"</p>
<p>"Yeah, well in case you haven't noticed, we're pretty swamped over here, Solo! I barely have time to scratch my own ass! We've only got three sets of hands on deck, and you expect us to get through just as much you do with six—"</p>
<p>"Three useless sets of hands," mutters Hux.</p>
<p>Poe stops his yelling, stiffens. "What did you just say?"</p>
<p>The other end of the call remains quiet—</p>
<p>"What the fuck did you just say, Hux?"</p>
<p>"Don't speak to me like that, Dameron, or you'll—"</p>
<p>"Or I'll <em>what?</em>" Poe yells, and Rey can't help the way her hands cling to the base of her chair.</p>
<p>
  <em>Alpha is angry, Alpha is angry, Alpha is—</em>
</p>
<p>"You talk shit to me about my team, I'll speak to you however the hell I want! You don't know what we go through over here! None of us get time for a fucking coffee break, let alone time to sit in our offices refreshing the booking system to check for samples! So instead of yelling at us, why don't you come over here for a while, huh? Help us out? And then, maybe with your <em>expertise</em>, we won't misplace any more samples!"<br/><br/>Hux snorts. "You have more than adequate resources—"</p>
<p>"And no support from management!"</p>
<p>"I give far more time than I should to you, Dameron, that's the problem, and the entire point of discussion to this conference call."</p>
<p>"When was the last time you even stepped foot down here?" Poe asks, and the hairs on Rey's neck stand at the demanding way he says it.</p>
<p>"Solo was there this very morning."</p>
<p>"I didn't ask about Solo, I asked about you."</p>
<p>Hux sighs so loudly that the microphone crackles. "The last time I checked my budget, you're being paid as a directorate manager. You shouldn't need my breathing down your neck to run a department of five."</p>
<p>Poe takes a quick breath in through his nose and leans in toward the microphone dangerously. "You have no <em>fucking</em> idea, Hux. There are real patients missing out on their tests and being given the wrong results! There are real people suffering, and they're suffering because you're too fucking lazy to do your damn job!"</p>
<p>For a moment, all goes quiet.</p>
<p>It's one of those tangible, thick silences; one of those in the movies where if someone in the room were to drop a pin, the pin would be heard.</p>
<p>Rey pushes her chair back ever so slightly and her speeding pulse is getting hard to ignore. On the screen, the blurred pixels that make up Hux's eyes darken, and he rubs at the bridge of his nose.</p>
<p>"Could you please ask your team to step out, Dameron?" Hux eventually asks, his voice tight.</p>
<p>Poe doesn't turn away from the screen, but gestures toward the door with a nod of his head.</p>
<p>Taking that as a very welcome cue for them to leave, Rey doesn't hesitate to give into her bubbling desire to run, and holds the door open for the others.</p>
<p>Finn is the last to leave, and as he closes the door quietly behind him, he exchanges a wide-eyed look that says, 'what did we just witness?' with the others. Kaydel presses her lips together to stop herself from laughing while Rose has to cover her mouth, but when the muffled sounds of yelling followed by a loud <em>crash</em> come from Poe's office, they all jump.</p>
<p>Kaydel sniggers, and without a word, heads back to the reception room. Rose rolls her eyes and wanders toward the bathrooms while Finn follows after Rey back into the labs.</p>
<p>"Holy. Shit." Finn finally breaks and laughs once they're a safe distance from Poe's office.</p>
<p>Rey rubs at the skin at the front of her neck, over the patch that hasn't stopped prickling even away from the pheromones of angry Alpha. "You can say that again. I've never seen Hux look so stressed in all of my life."</p>
<p>Finn snorts. "Once, about a month before you started, both he and Solo came through the lab for a tour."</p>
<p>At just the mental picture, Rey's eyes widen.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Finn says. "Those three in a room together... it went just about as well as you're thinking. Poe showed them the book we use for checking in samples, and I thought Solo was going to <em>end him</em>."</p>
<p>"It's a good thing we work in a hospital."</p>
<p>"He easily could've, too. The guy's massive."</p>
<p>Rey makes a slight sound of mild interest and rubs at the muscles in her shoulder. They're still not loosening.</p>
<p>"You all right?"</p>
<p>Seeing Finn watching her with softening, sympathetic eyes, Rey stops and drops her hands to her sides. "Mhmm."</p>
<p>"Ugh." He scowls, seeing through her. "Fucking Hux. Poe shouldn't have made you come in, it's not—"</p>
<p>"It's fine." She can feel her cheeks heating.</p>
<p>"—fair, just because they have...<em> dominance</em> issues or whatever, they shouldn't—"</p>
<p>"It's fine. Really. I’m used to it." Rey steps back, back toward the machine that's now beeping from its completed run and giving her the perfect opportunity to leave the conversation.</p>
<p>
  <em>Ugh. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>How embarrassing.</em>
</p>
<p>"Okay," Finn concedes, dropping his shoulders in a shrug. "If you're sure. I’m sure Poe wouldn’t mind if you went and got some air."</p>
<p>Rey nods and goes back to her work, knowing that there’s still so much in need of doing that Poe probably would mind.</p>
<p>And from down the hall, she hears it when Finn mumbles, "<em>fucking </em>Alphas."</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At the start of the next week, Rey hums to herself, meeting the time of the cheerful tune beating through her shamefully expensive headphones.</p><p>She has good luck that morning. She found a ten dollar bill at the bus stop; the bus not only got to the stop on time, but it ran quickly, too; she didn't have to wait at the crosswalk before it flashed with a walking man; and all the while, her phone shuffled an absolutely spot on playlist. She couldn’t have made a better one if she’d tried.</p><p>By the time she makes it to the hospital, Rey’s convinced she’ll have a brilliant day. She’s good and ready to make the most of it, and get as much done as possi—</p><p>She makes it two steps into the hospital, before she halts.</p><p>A deep breath in through her nose, and her pupils blow.</p><p>There it is again.</p><p>
  <em>Alpha.</em>
</p><p>It's... it's <em>them</em>, the same Alpha she’s been scenting all year, and at once, Rey is sure that they're unmedicated. They have to be.</p><p>Because there in the entrance way, the scent is stronger than she's ever smelled it, and it's… <em>it’s</em>…</p><p>Rey swallows down the saliva that’s begun to steadily pool in her mouth and instinctively searches around the foyer.</p><p>There’re a few mothers by the waiting area, their children playing at their feet. Rey’s sure it’s not them.</p><p>There are the same elderly reception women behind the front desk that Rey’s smiled at for the last year. She’s positive it’s not either of them.</p><p>There’s a teenager over by the ATM, but he’s thin and gangly—definitely not an Alpha—and the cleaner by the stairwell is one she’s met before, a Beta named Jeff.</p><p>There are no other candidates in sight, and so, Rey decides that she must’ve just missed them. That has to be it. The Alpha must’ve walked through the hospital only moments before her, and their scent simply hadn’t wafted yet. That was all.</p><p>And so, Rey tightens her fists, the sensation of her nails digging into her skin providing a much-needed distraction from the almost overwhelming urge to track the Alpha, and forces her feet to move in the direction of the lifts.</p><p>The scent there on the other side of the foyer is just as strong, if not stronger, and while she waits, Rey pushes her legs together and wipes repeatedly at the sweat that’s steadily building at the nape of her neck.</p><p>
  <em>Alpha.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Alpha, Alpha, Alpha—</em>
</p><p>When the elevator finally arrives, she all but runs into it, and mashes the door close button impatiently.</p><p>The enclosed space of the lift brings much needed relief. She sighs at the dusted smell of the air funnelling in through the vents in the ceiling and rests her head against the wall.</p><p><em>God</em>, she thinks. Who walks around a public hospital unmedicated?</p><p>What if she were an important speaker on her way to give a seminar when she'd smelt them? What if she were a doctor heading into a critical surgery? Admittedly, surgeons who were Omegas were about as rare as pigs on the moon, but that was beside the point!</p><p>As if the clinics full of the homeless and youth presenting for the first time weren't bad enough to be around, now there were unmedicated <em>staff</em>, too?</p><p>It was just... just— irresponsible! Inconsiderate! Such typical, selfish Alpha behaviour, not a care for the poor Omegas who were forced to endure their stench!</p><p>By the time the elevator chimes for level seven, Rey’s pulse has calmed considerably. But then, she steps out, and when she breathes in this time, it hits her so suddenly that she actually moans.</p><p>
  <em>What the...</em>
</p><p>She sniffs again, and—Jesus <em>Christ—</em>the scent is even stronger than it'd been downstairs, and it— shit.</p><p>Shit, shit, <em>shit</em>, the Alpha had been <em>there</em>, they must’ve been<em>. </em>In the corridor to <em>her</em> lab, on <em>her </em>floor.</p><p>
  <em>Fuck, what if they were still there?</em>
</p><p>Rey considers leaving, but then she breathes in again, and that idea is lost as quickly as it’d come.</p><p>Instinct drives her forward, <em>Alpha, Alpha, AlphaAlphaAlpha—</em></p><p>When she makes it into the lab, she’s in a full sweat and it's all she can do to grunt at Kaydel when she says hello.</p><p>She keeps her head down and passes through to the office, and finds that even in the safety of the staff office, she can still scent them.</p><p>Had... had they been <em>into</em> her department? Had they seen—</p><p>Oh no.</p><p>Rey tries not to hear the voice, she really does, but no, no, no—</p><p>
  <em>Alpha has seen our desk. Alpha has been here, near our things, Alpha must've scented us—</em>
</p><p>She clenches her eyes closed, attempting to shut out that primitive voice, the one urging her to sniff the upholstery.</p><p>
  <em>Maybe he likes our scent, too. Maybe he sat in our chair, maybe he used one of our pens, maybe he put it in his mouth—</em>
</p><p>Rey breathes through her mouth, tries to calm her racing pulse and ignore the slow throbbing that’s started in her lower muscles.</p><p>Fuck. And when had the Alpha become a 'he'? She doesn't know that it's a he, she doesn't know anything about him—</p><p>
  <em>Yes we do. Our Alpha is big and strong, and when he mates us, he will provide and protect, and he will fuck—</em>
</p><p>Rey doesn’t let the voice finish. With a whimper, she forces herself up and speeds out of the labs towards the bathroom without looking back. She dashes in and quickly checks that there's no one else in the ladies before she shuts herself in one of the cubicles.</p><p>She breathes in raggedly through her mouth, even though the Alpha's scent isn't as strong in the bathroom. But still, the heat of it, the sweetness and the spice lingers on her tongue and in her clothes.</p><p>She ducks down and checks again under the cubicle walls for feet—just in case—and then, she pulls her skirt up and underwear down. <br/><br/>“Oh my God,” she murmurs shamefully. “What the fuck, what the <em>fuck…</em>”</p><p>Her fingers barely brush over her clit before she has to muffle herself with her other hand.</p><p>Holy <em>shit.</em></p><p>She's never been this turned on out of a heat in her entire <em>life</em>, not even when she first presented.</p><p>She moves her fingers in the circles she likes and tries not to think about what it is she's doing. She tries not to think about all of the other people who've used the same cubicle over the years, and all of the people calmly working at their desks just walls away while she’s getting herself off in the communal bathroom like some sort of heated teenager.</p><p>It almost hurts—the emptiness—and it’s reminiscent of the way she aches during her heats. But, even without anything filling her, it doesn’t take her long. It barely takes anything at all, and when she comes, it's with what feels like one of the most intense orgasms of her life.</p><p>She can’t help it. She comes loudly, and it’s a good thing it’s early and the bathrooms are empty, because if anyone else <em>were </em>in there, they definitely would’ve known exactly what she was doing.</p><p>Using the cubicle wall to prop herself up, Rey comes down from her high slowly, her heart thundering as it gradually spreads out the endorphins to her extremities.</p><p>Minutes—literal <em>minutes</em>—later, when she can think and she’s feeling up to moving again, she uses a ridiculous amount of paper to wipe away the slick that’s coated her thighs and trickled down to her knee. When she’s done, she pushes herself from the cubicle, her wobbly legs protesting all the way.</p><p>Then, she gives the room a good spray with the air freshener that the cleaner leaves on the windowsill, and then she gives it another one for good measure.</p><p>Surely Poe wouldn't be able to smell what she'd done over that.</p><p>
  <em>Surely not.</em>
</p><p>Then, she slowly washes her hands under the cold tap, making sure to wash away even the slightest trace of slick, and decides that the first thing she’s doing when she gets home is doubling her suppressants, doctor’s guidelines be damned.</p><p>And then, as she rips off a piece of paper towel and dries between each and every finger, she has the sudden thought that maybe it's a <em>good</em> thing she's never met this Alpha.</p><p>God save her if she ever did.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You can find me on tumblr by the same username if you wanna hang :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Compared to Monday, the rest of Rey’s week passes rather smoothly.</p><p>On Tuesday, the centrifuge breaks down and has to be sent to engineering, and on Wednesday night, Kaydel leaves the water bath set to 60 degrees Celsius overnight, and they come in on Thursday to the lab reeking of steam and melted plastic. But still, Rey doesn’t scent the Alpha again, and that’s enough in her books for the rest of the week to classify as ‘smooth’.</p><p>Several times over those days, she meets Poe’s eyes and sees him lightly frowning at her in thought, but other than that, nothing is said to her. No one seems to have noticed her jumpy behaviour or how she carefully sniffs the doorways before entering, and no one comments on any suspicious smells throughout the department. Or from the bathrooms, for that matter.</p><p>And though she’s grateful that she got away with getting herself off in the communal bathrooms, she’s a little bit bothered that no one else except for her seems to have noticed the Alpha who’d stunk up the whole floor.</p><p>As the days go on, she progressively gets more and more irritated by their lack of concern, until she eventually plucks up the courage to ask Rose about it. But it does nothing to calm her, and Rey’s frustration only grows when Rose happily chimes, “all smells like hospital-grade disinfectant to me.”</p><p>And so, Rey is forced to consider the possibility that she’s going mad.</p><p>Someone else would’ve noticed an unmedicated Alpha hanging about the department, especially one smelling like <em>that</em>—even a Beta. And Poe would never have allowed such unprofessionalism.</p><p>Her heat isn’t due for another two months, so she knows that can’t be what’s causing her to pick up on the scent. Her current batch of suppressants is still in date—she knows because she’s checked—and she even stayed up googling whether it’s possible for an Omega to become resistant to their suppressants over time. Google and several Omega chat rooms had reassured her that it’s never happened before, and so, she rules out her suppressants, too.</p><p>Thus, there is only one possible solution.</p><p>She’s going mad.</p><p>Rey wonders if Finn is still in touch with his psychiatrist he’d been seeing a few months back. That would save her having to find one on her own, and who knew how to find a good one—</p><p>"No!"</p><p>Rey jumps at Poe's sudden yell from the lab behind her.</p><p>"No <em>fucking</em> way!"</p><p>Quietly shuffling over, Rey peers out of the PCR preparation room door and spots Poe over by the ice machine, scowling as he listens to whatever the person he's on the phone with is saying.</p><p>"Absolutely not, Hux,” he spits into the receiver. “I don't need a babysitter; I need more funding!"</p><p>Rey considers retreating, but Poe doesn’t seem to notice her.</p><p>"And what the fuck do you think he’s going to do? Breathe down my neck for a week, that's what! I need someone who can work <em>hands on</em> to help with the workload, not someone who barely leaves the fucking office!"</p><p>There’s a moment of quiet while Hux speaks from the other end of the call, and then—</p><p>“Hux— No, Hux, don’t you <em>dare</em>—” Poe rips the phone away from his ear and glares down at it. “Fucking useless, prick-headed—"</p><p>"Um." Rey clears her throat, and when Poe’s eyes snaps to hers, it's an effort not to divert her own. Rey manages, though. “What… what was that about?"</p><p>Poe sighs loudly, the sound trailing off and becoming a groan. "Hux thinks we could benefit from a helping set of hands." He runs a hand through his hair.</p><p>"He's not... he's not sending Phasma here is he?" Rey mentally crosses her fingers. Phasma's awful. "Or Teedo? <em>Please </em>not Teedo. If it's Teedo, I might have to quit."</p><p>Poe scoffs. "No, it's not Teedo. Or Phasma."</p><p>"Oh." Rey relaxes. That was okay. As long as it wasn't one of them, they'd be fine. Ushar sucked, but she could handle him. Or maybe they'd send Bazine? She'd always gotten along well with Bazine. Come to think about it, that would be rather good, actually. They could go out for dinner, and Finn could come, maybe Rose too, and it would be—</p><p>"No, it's worse than both of them. He's sending Solo."</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Later that evening, after they’d finished work for the day, Finn moans over the rowdy atmosphere of the bar. "This is a nightmare," he groans, pausing to take a swig of his beer. "We should just get out now while we can. If we all resign at the same time, maybe it’ll send Hux enough of a message to just let Poe hire us a newbie."</p><p>"Oh, come on." Rey rolls her eyes. "I'm sure it won't be that bad. Solo will only be around for a week, and as long as we keep Poe busy at a safe distance, I'm sure everything will be... fine."</p><p>Finn and Rose both look at her as if she's grown a second head.</p><p>"You’re so lucky you do later shifts, Rey. You weren't there first thing Monday morning," Finn says sternly, leaning across the table toward her. "Solo came in to drop off some samples—said he couldn't trust Poe to pick them up—and let me put it this way; I heard the yelling from the other side of the lab, <em>inside</em> of the coolroom. Do you <em>know </em>how many heavy-duty fans and motors are in that coolroom?”</p><p>While Kaydel and Rose snort, Rey momentarily loses control over her own appendages and the bottle she'd been slowly sipping out of falls to the table with a loud <em>thunk</em>.</p><p>"Shit." She picks the beer up quickly, but not before half it's spilled out onto the small space.</p><p>“Ah, watch it!” Kaydel snatches up the wad of napkins left over from their dinners and uses them to mop up the spilled beer, and Rose waves off the waitress who’d witnessed the spillage.</p><p>“Sorry.” Rey coughs and uses one of the left-over napkins to wipe the beer off of the outside of her bottle. "Um… I didn’t know Solo was in on Monday." She goes to laugh, but when it comes out, it has a high-pitched note to it.</p><p>Because Monday had been when—</p><p>And Solo <em>was</em> an Alpha—</p><p>Could that mean…?</p><p>But no.</p><p>No, no, no, that’s stupid. Solo can’t possibly be the Alpha she’s been scenting. So many people came into the hospital each and every day, that the odds were <em>so </em>slim, and besides, if he were unmedicated, Poe would never let him anywhere near the building, let alone in the lab.</p><p>Rey’s panic settles a little bit.</p><p><em>Can’t be</em>.</p><p>"Yeah, well.” Finn pulls the same face he gets whenever he talks about Hux. “He was in a real mood, too. Almost made Jess at reception cry.”</p><p>Kaydel sniggers. “In his defence, Poe makes her cry almost every other week.”</p><p>“Don’t defend him!”</p><p>“Why not? It’ll be nice having someone other than Poe to look at. <em>I </em>think he’s sexy.”</p><p>Rose chokes on her wine and Finn double-takes. “Wha—are you <em>kidding?</em> Please, <em>please</em> tell me that you’re kidding.”</p><p>Kaydel shrugs. “He’s so tall,” she says. “And have you seen his hands?”</p><p>Finn’s look of horror only intensifies. “He’s the <em>worst</em>. Rose knows, she used to work for him.”</p><p>Rose nods, but Kaydel waves her glass of moscato dismissively. “And I didn’t say he’s not. But you don’t have to like someone to think them attractive. And you know what they say about Alpha’s in bed.”</p><p>Finn makes a sound of disgust, and then he says, “one; that’s disgusting. And two…I really worry about you. Solo’s really… <em>odd looking</em>.”</p><p>“His body isn’t.” Kaydel waves her eyebrows suggestively and at that, Rose finally cracks. Her laughs come in snorts and the way she nearly topples off of her chair finally has Finn laughing along too.</p><p>But while they all laugh, all of a sudden, Rey feels a little bit ill.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rey spends her weekend alone, keeping herself busy by tidying her small apartment.</p>
<p>It's a good outlet; it always has been ever since she was a young teenager, and it's one of the few instincts driven by her Omega genetics that the suppressants don't seem to have an effect on.</p>
<p>But Rey doesn't mind it. If the urge to keep a safe, clean and cosy den is the worst of the Omega traits the drugs leave her with, then it's a good enough deal.</p>
<p>When Rey had turned eighteen and had been able to get her own place, she hadn't been able to afford much. She'd settled with an apartment that was nice for the area and only had three rooms in it, but even despite its size, it's perfect. It's got more than enough space for just her, and the size makes it easy to keep it <em>just </em>the way she likes it.</p>
<p>While her microwave dinner heats that night, Rey switches on the TV and makes her sofa comfortable. She fluffs her pillows, and then once she's done, she fluffs them again. But after that, the urge to make the space softer and warmer still isn't sated, and so, Rey collects her pillows and quilt from her bed and arranges them on the couch, leaving just enough room in the middle for herself.</p>
<p>When her food is ready, she climbs in and gets herself settled.</p>
<p>And there she stays, curled up between her pillows with the latest episode of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' running until eventually, Rey drifts into sleep.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>When the sound of a train passing by on the nearby line wakes Rey early on Monday morning, she's sprawled with her neck bent and her legs perched on the armrest of her sofa awkwardly, and when she pushes herself up, her muscles groan in protest.</p>
<p>Damn.</p>
<p>She hadn't meant to sleep there all night.</p>
<p>She pays heavily for her mistake that morning; her neck throbs while she gets ready for work, and the muscles in her lower back yell at her when she gets on the packed bus and has to spend the journey to the hospital standing.</p>
<p>But even though it feels like the journey had taken longer than normal, Rey makes it there in record time, and gets off of the bus twenty minutes before she's due to start.</p>
<p>Typical. With Solo around the lab, she's sure the week will be a horrendous one, and so <em>of course</em> that just <em>has </em>to be the time she gets there early.</p>
<p>She rearranges her bag and starts walking toward the hospital, and quickly feels her phone buzz several times in quick succession. Rey pulls it out and snorts seeing series of the messages from Finn.</p>
<p>
  <sub>Today 10.39 am<br/></sub>
  <b>O.O</b>
  <br/>
  <b>don't come in</b>
  <br/>
  <b>run while u can</b>
</p>
<p>Too late, bus was early :)</p>
<p>
  <b>no rey</b>
  <br/>
  <b>run</b>
  <br/>
  <b>solo's been on a warpath</b>
  <br/>
  <b>and poe's locked in the office</b>
  <br/>
  <b>he's on the phone with hux i think</b>
  <br/>
  <b>can hear the yelling from pcr room</b>
</p>
<p>Should I bring coffee?</p>
<p>
  <b>no, just run</b>
</p>
<p>Haha, I wish<br/>I need this job<br/>I'm around the corner, see you soon</p>
<p>
  <b>...don't say i didn't warn u</b>
  <br/>
  <b>just make sure u wear ur safety glasses and leave phone in ur bag</b>
  <br/>
  <b>he's gone to town on rose already and he's only been here an hour</b>
</p>
<p>Should be a good day then ;)<br/><sub>Read Today 10.43 am</sub></p>
<p>Rey tucks her phone into her back pocket and rubs at her forehead, turning down the side street toward the hospital.</p>
<p>She’s sure Finn’s just trying to be funny. Solo can’t be <em>that </em>bad. Yes, he can be a bit unreasonable in conference calls sometimes, but honestly—he’s not wrong about the phone thing. Hux has asked them not to use their phones in the lab so many times, and yet Finn and Rose keep on doing it. It’s understandable that he's a bit mad. She would be too.</p>
<p>No, she’s sure that as long as she keeps her head down and does as she’s told, everything will be fine. Maybe the standards in the lab will get better. Maybe she'll even get <em>along </em>with Solo—</p>
<p>The wind kicks up just then, blowing the air directly up the street from the hospital, and as it reaches her, Rey halts.</p>
<p>And there it is at the tip of her tongue, strong and undeniable, and she hasn’t even crossed the street yet. The scent.</p>
<p><em>Alpha</em>.</p>
<p>Rey takes a long, indulgent breath in through her nose before she can stop herself and she doesn’t manage to control the soft moan that forms low in her throat.</p>
<p>She squeezes her eyes shut, tightens her fists.</p>
<p>It’s just a smell. It’s a delicious smell—a wonderful, warm, euphoric one that she dreams about—but still, it’s just a smell. It can’t hurt her. She’s not a slave to it.</p>
<p>She is <em>not.</em></p>
<p>Rey stops and swaps to breathing through her mouth and tries not to think about it.</p>
<p>
  <em>You can do this.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It's just a smell.</em>
</p>
<p><em>You are more than your biology</em>, she tells herself. <em>You are more than your biology.</em></p>
<p>She makes it to the entrance, repeating it like a mantra. But then, she plucks up the courage to enter the hospital and her senses are <em>bombarded.</em></p>
<p>Suddenly, she can’t help but think she’s <em>not </em>more than her biology.</p>
<p>
  <em>Our Alpha is here, our Alpha is inside. If we are quick, we might not miss him, and then, he will scent us, and he will claim us, and we won't be alone anymore—</em>
</p>
<p>Rey stops in her tracks and shudders, her skin itching with heat below the surface. She tries not to hear the voice, but with each breath she takes, it grows louder and more demanding, and her muscles start to contract...</p>
<p>It shouldn't be like this.</p>
<p>Whatever it is that’s happening to her, whatever she’s smelling isn't right. Even if the Alpha is unmedicated, they shouldn't be affecting her like this. She’s upped her does to double what she should be taking in suppressants and she can barely smell anyone else, and it <em>doesn’t make any sense.</em></p>
<p>She stays there, stationary in the doorway and her legs itch with the desire to move, to follow the smell, to track them down and—</p>
<p>Rey makes a split-second decision and turns and leaves the hospital while she can still think straight.</p>
<p>When she's back across the street and halfway to the café by the park, she pulls her phone back out and dials, a heavy weight forming low in her stomach.</p>
<p>He picks up after the second ring and his voice is short.</p>
<p>"Hello?"</p>
<p>"Poe? Hey, this—um, it's Rey. Look, I'm really sorry, but I can't... I don’t think I can make it in today."</p>
<p>Silence.</p>
<p>"...Poe?" <em>Shit. </em>They’re so busy, and here she is calling in sick like a complete arsehole all because she can’t handle a fucking <em>smell</em>. She'd been so lucky in getting this job, and here she is, stomping all over it. "Are you still there?"</p>
<p>"Yeah," he says after a pause. "Yeah, I'm still here."</p>
<p>"I'm so sorry. Y-you know I wouldn't do this if I didn't have reason, Poe. I'm heading to see a doctor today; I'll get a note."</p>
<p>She hears a faint sigh. "Yeah, that's okay. If you're only taking the day, don't worry about it. Just... for the love of God, just feel better."</p>
<p>Rey winces. "Yeah. I will, thank you. I'm so sorry."</p>
<p>"See you tomorrow, maybe."</p>
<p>"Yeah, see you."</p>
<p>Poe is the one to hang up first, and Rey quickly brings the palm of her hand to her forehead.</p>
<p>
  <em>Christ.</em>
</p>
<p>With her mind steadily clearing with the distance she puts between herself and the hospital, Rey crosses the park toward Jitterbugs while quickly hatching a plan. She’ll get a coffee to calm herself down away from the scent of the Alpha, and then, she'll make an appointment with a doctor.</p>
<p>They'll know what’s wrong. She should’ve gone ages ago, and she’s sure there’s a simple answer she just hasn’t found yet. Her research was probably just wrong and she's... just on the wrong suppressants after all, or something. This sort of thing is probably far more common that she knows, and she’s <em>positive </em>there’s a simple explanation.</p>
<p>Nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>She tells it to herself—<em>nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about</em>—until she almost believes it, and then, she pushes the bell to the café open.</p>
<p>But before she’s even taken a step inside, she's hit with another sudden wave of the scent that’s so strong that she very nearly buckles, and she somehow knows.</p>
<p>
  <em>Alpha. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He's here.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Our Alpha is here, in the café. He's here, he's here—</em>
</p>
<p>The scent is too strong—far stronger than it’d been in the hospital—and she doesn't have a single ounce of hope of fighting it. All sense lost to the wind, Rey gives into her instincts without protest and hungrily searches, seeking them out, <em>Alpha, Alpha, Alpha—</em></p>
<p>No one in the main room is paying her even the slightest bit of attention. The patrons are women, mostly, and she somehow just knows that the Alpha she seeks is not one of them.</p>
<p>Rey's skin itches and her glands ache as she circles the café, seeking him out. She doesn't know what she's looking for, but she just <em>knows</em> she'll know when she sees him.</p>
<p>
  <em>Alpha, Alpha, Alpha, AlphaAlphaAlpha—</em>
</p>
<p>The scent somehow seems to intensify further as she rounds to the rear seating area of the café, and she’s vaguely aware of how inappropriately wet she’s getting. But she doesn’t care—she can’t care until she <em>finds him</em>—and like a magnet, the scent pulls her, dragging her eyes to the left.</p>
<p>And there. There's a man with impossibly dark eyes by the counter with one of his large, pale hands gripping tightly onto the edge, and he's <em>looking right at her.</em></p>
<p>She stops, swallows, and then, takes a deep breath through her nostrils.</p>
<p>She smells... confirmation.</p>
<p>
  <em>Alpha.</em>
</p>
<p>The first thing her Omega brain registers, is that he's tall.</p>
<p><em>Very </em>tall<em>.</em></p>
<p>She herself isn't short, and he's still at least half a head taller than her. And if the way his business shirt is tight around his biceps is anything to go by, he's <em>strong</em>, too.</p>
<p>Oh... oh yes.</p>
<p>Clear skin; dark, thick hair; stubble just starting to grow through on his chin; all tell-tale signs of good health, of masculinity.</p>
<p><em>Oh</em> <em>yes</em>, her Omega brain tells her. <em>Yes, Alpha is </em>perfect.</p>
<p>Rey can hear her heartbeat now, and the glands under her jaw throb in time with it.</p>
<p>She doesn't dare move any closer, but she drinks him in, hungrily, greedily, and while she does, she doesn't notice that he's staring at her just as intently as she is at him. She doesn't notice the way his chest is moving raggedly, nor does she notice that his pupils are blown so wide that they've almost entirely hidden his irises.</p>
<p>She doesn't notice any of that, because all she can think is—</p>
<p>
  <em>Alpha.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Alpha, Alpha, we found him. We found him at last, and now we must bow our head, let him scent us, let him mark us, take us, and mate—</em>
</p>
<p>She hasn't a chance of controlling it. Her head bows ever so slightly as if by itself, and at her sudden movement, he releases the counter and jolts toward her.</p>
<p>Yet he stops himself only inches from her, and then, there's a low sound, deep and guttural, and it might be a growl. She doesn't know if it came from her or him or both of them, but it makes the muscles of her cunt tighten and it makes the sudden aching of her emptiness in her abdomen intensify.</p>
<p>His lips are parted, and she can see that he's breathing through his mouth. He's almost shaking, and it looks almost as if it's taking him a great amount of effort to keep the distance of a single step between them.</p>
<p>She can’t help it. She can’t help the dread that sinks in, the disappointment, the embarrassment, <em>oh no. Have… have we displeased Alpha? </em></p>
<p>
  <em>No, no, no, Alpha doesn’t want us. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He doesn’t want us, he doesn’t want—</em>
</p>
<p>His eyes leave hers and they slowly roam down and over her, and she waits, still as if any sudden movement might scare him off. And then, just as she thinks he's going to turn around and leave her there, he ever so slowly moves, and he's—</p>
<p>He offers her his hand.</p>
<p>His fingers are trembling slightly, but the sight of his hand, large and rough and clean, drives a desperate whimper out of her.</p>
<p>It should be embarrassing. It should be humiliating, that the mere presence of this stranger can do this to her in such a public place, but her need—her want—are far too overwhelming for her to feel anything else.</p>
<p>And the Alpha doesn't seem to mind. He makes no mention of the squeak she'd made, and instead, instructs in a choked, yet firm voice that should be familiar, "come with me."</p>
<p>But it's not. In her state, the usually operating rational part of her has been completely pushed aside by the primitive Omega within, and it doesn't give a flying hoot that his voice sounds familiar. It couldn't care less that his features resemble the blurred ones she'd seen numerous times via teleconference, and so, it doesn't make even the slightest attempt at putting the connection together.</p>
<p>
  <em>Our Alpha has given us an order.</em>
</p>
<p><em>Our Alpha wants us. Our Alpha </em>wants<em> us, and he is big and strong, and he is perfect, perfect, perfect, do as he says, quickly.</em></p>
<p><em>Do it. It is what he wants, it will please him, we </em>must <em>please him. Do it, do it, do it, do—</em></p>
<p>The voice overpowers any form of resistance she may have had, and so, Rey takes his hand.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Six</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you're only here for the porn, WELL THEN.</p>
<p>(also don't read this at work lmao)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>The Alpha pulls her with him at a pace that's uncomfortable. They move without speaking a single word and Rey almost has to jog to keep up with the speed at which his long legs make their way up the stairs to the hospital car park.</p>
<p>Rey isn't sure how they manage to make it up there. By the time they reach the fourth floor, it's become physically painful to stop herself from pouncing on him. And as though he feels it too, the moment they pass the pay machine, he turns to her and pulls her against him by the loose fabric of her jumper, pinning her between himself and a pillar of the car park.</p>
<p>She moans at the same time he does when she feels him through their clothes, hard and urgent, and when he kisses her, she's entirely lost.</p>
<p>He tastes even better than he smells.</p>
<p>
  <em>Alpha. Alpha. Alpha. Alpha wants us, he wants us, he wants us, he wants us—</em>
</p>
<p>While she gropes at his solid chest, his hands encircle her waist and he is <em>huge</em>. Each hand is almost big enough to grip halfway around her waist, and he squeezes around her as if there's a chance she'd run away if he let her go.</p>
<p>Which is ridiculous. As if she'd ever run away from him now that she's found him, <em>her </em>Alpha, as if she even <em>could—</em></p>
<p>But then he releases her, and moves to grip her jaw and forces her to look at him.</p>
<p>"I'm going to taste you," he murmurs, low and without question. "Every bit of you, and I'm going to find out if you taste as good as you smell. And then, when I'm done, I'm going to fuck you."</p>
<p>Rey doesn't think she's ever been so turned on in her life and she wants to say yes. She wants to plead and beg him to do just that, and she's going to, but then, the voice in her head gets louder, more insistent with its growing panic.</p>
<p>
  <em>No. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>No, no, not here, not here.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>We cannot mate here, we will be seen, and we will be stopped, and it's not safe.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Not safe, not safe, not safe—</em>
</p>
<p>He seems to pick up on her sudden hesitation, and pulls back.</p>
<p>"But... but not here?"</p>
<p>She shakes her head.</p>
<p>"No," he murmurs, and he runs a thumb over her lips. "No, not here. Somewhere... somewhere else. Somewhere safe."</p>
<p>Rey licks her lips over the spot where his thumb had been and clings onto his arms while she nods.</p>
<p>"Okay." He doesn't let her go though, and he bends down to kiss her slowly again before he eventually groans low in his throat. "Okay."</p>
<p>He detaches himself and draws out a set of keys from his pocket, and then the lights from a car in the nearest bay flash. "Get in."</p>
<p>Throughout all of her schooling years, the one lesson that'd been drilled into them time and time again, had been not to get into cars with strangers. For the most part, Rey understood this. Who knows who could be a rapist and who might be a murderer?</p>
<p>But this time, Rey doesn't even think about it. She just does as he says without consideration, shuffling into the passenger seat, and once the door is shut, the smell of <em>Alpha </em>is so strong that she can't think of anything at all.</p>
<p>He hurriedly starts the engine and puts the car in gear, but he doesn't immediately move the car.</p>
<p>Instead, he reaches out to her and takes her wrist in his hand and lifts it, holding it closely underneath his nose and breathes her in.</p>
<p>"Where to?" he asks without looking at her.</p>
<p>She watches him dragging the tip of his nose along her bone, the sight of him lingering over her scent gland hypnotic.</p>
<p>His eyes snap to hers. "<em>Omega.</em>"</p>
<p>She jolts, forces her eyes off of her wrist. "Um. Barclay Avenue. N-near Clearview."</p>
<p>He stares at her.</p>
<p>"Um. That's... that's where I live," she says, and his scent is so <em>fucking </em>strong that her words are slurred.</p>
<p>He ceases his scenting but doesn't let go of her wrist. "You're kidding. You don't live there."</p>
<p>"Err, no. I'm not... not kidding. That's home."</p>
<p>He growls again and it makes her tremble in her seat.</p>
<p>But then he evidently decides it isn't worth arguing, and he starts to drive.</p>
<p>He doesn't let go of her wrist the entire time, and the leg he's not using to drive with bounces impatiently at every red light.</p>
<p>"I'm going to lick all of these," he says when he meets her eyes while they're banked up for two full light cycles.</p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p>Oh, oh, <em>oh, </em>she's never been one for dirty talk, but this... him...</p>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p>
  <em>Yeah.</em>
</p>
<p>"This one. The ones between your legs." He pauses to sweep his tongue across her wrist and Rey makes a feeble whimper. "The ones on your neck."</p>
<p>"I..." Her mouth is dry. Too dry. "I would... I think I'd like that."</p>
<p>He laughs then, the sound low and smooth, and her head spins.</p>
<p>It doesn't stop spinning the entire trip.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Rey isn't sure how, but somehow, they get to her building, and when they do, she doesn't notice the way her Alpha parks up on the curb in what has to be an illegal park. She doesn't notice that he'd never bothered with his seatbelt, nor does she notice the rushed way he stumbles from the car.</p>
<p>Rey doesn't notice any of that, because she's sweating now. Her neck is as wet as her thighs are with her slick and the feel of his huge hand encompassing hers only makes it worse.</p>
<p>She leads him up to her apartment at a jog, not stopping to grab her mail or greet her neighbour Mr. Antilles on their way past. The only time she does stop, is when she pulls her keys out of her pocket and starts on unlocking the door.</p>
<p>But her Alpha doesn't make it easy. Now that they're alone in the corridor, his chest is flush against her back and his hands have somehow made their way in underneath her shirt, and when he palms at her breast through her bra, her keys slip from her fingers.</p>
<p>He laughs, and she can feel it when his chest rumbles. "Pick them up."</p>
<p>She moves to grab them, but he shifts his hold on her to her hips and doesn't let her move away from him.</p>
<p>"Al-<em>Alpha</em>—"</p>
<p>"I said—" He rolls his hips and she can feel him pressing against her arse through his pants. "—pick them up."</p>
<p>She obeys, bending at the hips, and the action increases the friction between them.</p>
<p>He groans loudly, and her neighbours have undoubtedly heard them.</p>
<p>But now, with her keys in hand, it doesn't take her long to finally get her blasted door open. She shifts forward, and this time he lets her go, and immediately, it's like breathing fresh air, in her apartment. It smells like her and not Alpha—<em>finally—</em>and at once it starts to clear her mind, starts to bring her back to reality.</p>
<p>She breathes in her own scent like it's a lifeline, but then, when she looks back at him—<em>Alpha—</em>she thinks that maybe she's made a mistake by bringing him back to her den.</p>
<p>A <em>grave </em>mistake.</p>
<p>He's still in the doorway and his chest is heaving, and if his eyes had been dark before, they were nothing compared to the colour of them now.</p>
<p>Now, they're black, and they're locked right on her.</p>
<p>"Alpha—" She goes to ask if he likes it, her den, but before she can get a word out, he steps inside, pushes the door closed behind him.</p>
<p>He looks ravenous.</p>
<p>She steps back instinctively, fear starting to prickle amongst the lust that has only barely let up, and when she does, he locks the door behind her.</p>
<p>He prowls toward her then, and Rey backs up further, deeper into her den, the hairs at the back of her neck standing up on end.</p>
<p>And then, he lunges.</p>
<p>She lets out a growl driven by pure instinct and darts back behind the kitchen counter, yet it doesn't deter him. Her Alpha's legs are much longer than hers, and it only takes him two more steps to catch her.</p>
<p>He pushes her back, her tailbone driving into the counter, while her growls become louder and she thrashes against him.</p>
<p>He pins her down, taking her wrists in his hands and holding them behind her back, and then, he leans in to drags his teeth along the line of her neck. "Shh, Omega." His chest rumbles when he speaks. "I'll take such good care of you."</p>
<p>But she can't help it. This is her den—<em>her </em>den<em>—</em>and he's pinning her in it as if it's his. As if <em>he </em>owns the place, as if <em>he </em>would mind it and their pups.</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>No, no, no—</p>
<p>She shoves back against him and her own growls grow longer, more feral. But he doesn't let up, doesn't show any signs of it bothering him.</p>
<p>"You—" His lips run across the skin of her neck, over where one of her swollen glands is, and Rey is torn between the urge to shove him off, and the one to grind against him. "—smell so... <em>so</em> good, Omega."</p>
<p>"Get— let<em>— let me—</em>"</p>
<p>"I will never... <em>never </em>let you go."</p>
<p>She kicks against him, and she doesn't know which instinct to give into. She wants to do as he says, she wants to please him, but it's <em>her </em>den, and she's in charge, but she wants to do as Alpha says, and she wants him to fuck her, but it's her den—<em>her den</em>—and it's confusing.</p>
<p>It's too much.</p>
<p>Too much, too much—</p>
<p>Rey pushes him harder, but her Alpha doesn't budge. "<em>P-please</em>—"</p>
<p>He growls. "<em>You</em> invited <em>me</em> in."</p>
<p>"I don't—this is—I just want— get <em>off of—</em>"</p>
<p>He does.</p>
<p>He steps back so abruptly that Rey stumbles forward.</p>
<p>He laughs, licks his lips, and looks her up and down. "Stubborn little thing, aren't you?"</p>
<p>She huffs through her nose. "This is <em>my </em>space. <em>My </em>den. I—<em>I </em>am in charge here."</p>
<p>It was meant to come out firmly. She was supposed to stand her ground and it was supposed to be an order, but the words leave her posed more like a question.</p>
<p>His lips twitch like he's trying not to laugh at her and his eyes are pitch as night, but then he glances back, searching her apartment.</p>
<p>Rey twists, following his gaze—</p>
<p>And then she's hit with another sudden thought.</p>
<p>
  <em>What if he doesn't like it? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>What if we didn't make it soft enough? Warm enough? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>We only just found Alpha, and what if our den is too cluttered? Too heavily scented, or what if it's the wrong colour? What if we didn't get enough food, and we starve, or if there's not enough water, and—</em>
</p>
<p>He smiles crookedly, as if he knows what she's thinking and he thinks it's <em>funny.</em></p>
<p>"You're not in heat, are you?"</p>
<p>She scowls. "No."</p>
<p>"But you're not on suppressants?"</p>
<p>She rears back at that, offended that he would even suggest— "Yes. I am. Of course I am."</p>
<p>He sniffs loudly. "Doesn't smell like it."</p>
<p>She lifts her chin, but only slightly. "I <em>am</em>. You... you can check the bathroom if you don't believe me."</p>
<p>"I don't suppose it matters now, does it?" It's a question, but he doesn't word it like one. "Come here."</p>
<p>He says it so abruptly, that she obeys before she can think not to.</p>
<p>He quickly, yet carefully takes one of her hands, and unlike just moments earlier, he slowly starts to pull her back through her apartment toward the living area cautiously, as if he's intentionally trying not to spook her.</p>
<p>And it's... it's okay. Rey allows it.</p>
<p>When they reach the sofa, where her pillows and blankets are still arranged from the night before, he stops and pushes her back, lowering her down to sit her between the pillows.</p>
<p>"Did you do this for me?"</p>
<p>Rey makes an unsure sound.</p>
<p>
  <em>Say yes.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Say yes, it's what he wants. He'll forgive us for the den if you give him what he wants, and what he wants is for you to say yes. We must please him, we must please—</em>
</p>
<p>He hums low in thought before she can speak. "It's very... nice." His eyes dart around the apartment once more. "Your den. I would... very much like to stay here with you, if... if you'll have me."</p>
<p>The Omega voice in her brain stalls and then it howls—yes, yes, <em>yes—</em>and all reservations she may have had are thrown out as if it'd never been there to start with. She reaches up for him, gripping him by his belt, and pulls him down into the pillows with her.</p>
<p>After that, Rey is vaguely aware of the muffled sound of him laughing, the ripping sound of her shirt being pulled off by his huge hands. She hears it when his shoes hit the wooden floor with loud <em>thunks</em> and his scent hits her even harder than it had it his car when his clothes are finally off of him.</p>
<p>And he's...</p>
<p>
  <em>Perfect. Our Alpha is perfect, perfect, perfect, and he wants us. </em>
</p>
<p><em>He wants us, he wants us, he wants</em>—</p>
<p>He licks a trail up and along her sternum, rising up until his tongue passes over the scent gland on her neck and she bucks against him.</p>
<p><em>God. </em>She's almost coming already, and they hadn't even—they weren't even—</p>
<p>She glances down, down to where his hard length is pressing into her hip and the sight of it... well. She's never had sex with an Alpha before, and hers is big.</p>
<p><em>So</em> big.</p>
<p>Would he even—?</p>
<p>Noticing her attention, he grunts and grips her wrist, bringing her hand to wrap around his cock, and—fuck—her fingers don't quite meet around him.</p>
<p>He wraps his fingers around hers, forcing her to squeeze him harder than she would've dared.</p>
<p>"Fuck." He exhales slowly through his nose and moves her hand for her until she starts at the rhythm he set for her. "Ah, <em>fuck</em>— d-do you have any—?"</p>
<p>It takes her a moment to realise what he's referring to.</p>
<p>
  <em>Oh.</em>
</p>
<p>Condoms.</p>
<p>Right.</p>
<p>They're important. She knows that.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>"In—in the bathroom." She shimmies upward on the sofa, and then she arches her back up so she can rub herself against him. "But... <em>hmm—</em>but I'm clean."</p>
<p>"Fuck, <em>fuck.</em>" He thrusts forward and his cock slides along the lips of her cunt. His eyes roll back, but then they snap to her. "Are you... are you saying—"</p>
<p>"Are you? Clean?"</p>
<p>A quick nod.</p>
<p>"Ah, then just... just—please, <em>Alpha</em>, I need— just do it—"</p>
<p>She throws her head back when he pushes in, and the sound she makes isn't at all human. He's... he's huge and even the ridiculous amount of slick her body's made doesn't seem to help with the pain at all, but still, he doesn't stop. Tears run down her cheeks, and he pushes, deeper and deeper, until her claws are raking down the fabric of the sofa and he is bottomed out inside her.</p>
<p>"<em>Ah</em>." He sounds as though he's choking. "You're so... God, you're perfect." His teeth nip gently at her neck and it soothes her, distracting from the pain of his intrusion. "Like you—" He makes a shallow, testing thrust. "—like you were made for me."</p>
<p>
  <em>Yes...</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Yes, Alpha, yes...</em>
</p>
<p>The Omega spoke the words in her mind, but she must've said them aloud too, because he all but loses it then.</p>
<p>His growls are animalistic and he fucks her in long, slow strokes, his hands fisting around the pillows by her head so tightly that his knuckles turn white.</p>
<p>And it's... it's so...</p>
<p>"I..." Her Alpha groans then, long and drawn out and he nips again at the skin at the base of her neck. "<em>Omega... </em>I want... I want to bite you. Here."</p>
<p>He sucks the skin over the pink gland at the base of her neck hard enough that it almost stings and Rey hears her own purr rumbling low in her throat.</p>
<p>
  <em>Alpha is pleased, Alpha wants us, Alpha is big and strong and after he mates us, he will give us many, many pups, mate, mate, mate—</em>
</p>
<p>"<em>Yes</em>."</p>
<p>He growls against her skin and his teeth gently scrape, making her buck against him. "Yes?"</p>
<p>"I want..." Rey can barely breathe, let alone form words, but she knows there's nothing in the entire world she wants more than for him to bite her. "I... I want you to."</p>
<p>He moans this time, and she clenches around his cock, holding him as deeply as their bodies will allow.</p>
<p>He nips harder now, his teeth pressing with <em>just </em>enough force to make her entire body quiver, but not enough to break the skin.</p>
<p>"Pl-<em>please</em>, Alpha, please, don't... don't tease me."</p>
<p>"Hm?"</p>
<p>"Please, do it."</p>
<p>He rocks his hips, driving into her deeply. "Ah—fuck, Omega, don't—don't fucking say that, don't—"</p>
<p>"Bite me." She can't help it now, and she's a mess. "Please. Please, I want— I need you to— <em>please</em>, do—"</p>
<p>He gives in suddenly without slowing his thrusts, and when his teeth drive deep into her skin, she screams.</p>
<p>It's somehow both the most painful and the most blissful thing Rey thinks she's ever felt, and at once, her mind is flooded with foreign thoughts and emotions and memories that aren't hers.</p>
<p>And then—</p>
<p>Rey comes and it's like taking a photo straight into a mirror. It's like falling through an endless loop, and when her Alpha growls with his own release, she feels it like it's her own.</p>
<p>It goes on and on, it becomes so clear, so obvious that he was right. She was made for him, for <em>this</em>, and now she had it, she'd never let it go, <em>never let him go, never let her go, never let her go,</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Mate.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mate.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Matematematemate—</em>
</p>
<p>It lasts forever, and she's <em>whole</em>, but then his teeth leave her skin.</p>
<p>The descent after that is slow, blissful and soft, and when Rey eventually starts to become aware of her surroundings, she feels the soft, soothing sensation of him licking at the bite on her neck.</p>
<p>Her Alpha's body quivers with effort to hold himself up, and after he's done cleaning her, he grunts while he rolls over, planting himself beside her on his side.</p>
<p>They aren't bound together; fortunately, unfortunately, she isn't sure which.</p>
<p>"That..." Rey's heart is still beating so loudly in her ears that it's a bit difficult to hear. "That was..."</p>
<p>"Yeah." Her Alpha closes his eyes, wipes the sweat from his forehead. "It was."</p>
<p>She basks in the warmth coursing through her, and then, she takes the opportunity to study him while he's not looking.</p>
<p>He's... different looking. Distinctive. And yet while his features are unusual, he doesn't look bad. He's really quite handsome.</p>
<p>Rey hadn't noticed before, but he's somehow <em>familiar</em>, and he's older than her. He must be. His skin is worn and he looks as if he's in his thirties, and he might be ten... fifteen years older than she is? It's hard to tell. She's not good at guessing ages.</p>
<p>Rey can't think too hard on it though, because then, as if he can feel her attention on him, he opens his eyes.</p>
<p>But she doesn't shy away under his watch. She finds that she actually quite likes it, being searched by him, and she feels... calm. Soothed.</p>
<p>
  <em>Complete.</em>
</p>
<p>"You..." she starts in a whisper, and now that the light's on him, she notices that his eyes are light brown. "...you bit me."</p>
<p>As she vocalises it, draws attention to what he'd done, Rey knows that she should be panicking.</p>
<p>He'd <em>bitten </em>her mating gland. He'd <em>mated </em>her.</p>
<p>That wasn't a small thing. That was a big deal. A forever sort of deal.</p>
<p>But it's hard to worry past the heavy feeling of bliss coursing through her veins, especially when there's another voice in her head that's been given everything it's ever wanted.</p>
<p>Still, he seems to pick up on her hesitation, and his brows furrow. "I'm—I didn't... I didn't mean to." His Adam's apple moves when he swallows and slowly he reaches out to rub at her cheek with his thumb.</p>
<p>Rey nods, soothed by his touch. She's sure he didn't mean to do it, just as she hadn't meant to ask him to. No one wants to be stuck mated to a stranger, no one would <em>intentionally </em>do it.</p>
<p>It'd been a mistake.</p>
<p>But even still...</p>
<p>"Does... does this mean...?"</p>
<p>He licks his lips. "You're not in heat. You said that, right?"</p>
<p>She nods again.</p>
<p>"It might not stick, then. The bond. It might..."</p>
<p>She should feel relieved. She should feel soothed by the idea that the bond he'd initiated might fade away into nothing.</p>
<p>But it'd felt so strong. She'd felt him growl, felt him come, as if it'd been her herself.</p>
<p>And even now, she can feel guilt, the beginnings of agitation accumulating in the corners of her mind, feelings she's sure don't belong to her.</p>
<p>They're strong. They're strong and they're building, and they don't <em>feel </em>like they're going to just fade away.</p>
<p>He rolls over beside her onto his back and presses the palms of his hands down over his eyes.</p>
<p>"Fuck."</p>
<p>Then, he sighs and without another word, he untangles himself from the blankets and pillows and rises, bending to grab his pants from their discarded pile of clothes by the armrest of the sofa.</p>
<p>Rey leans herself up on her elbow and chooses not to vocalise her agreement with his assessment. "I... I don't even know your name."</p>
<p>He glances at her, jumping a bit when he pulls his pants up. "Ben."</p>
<p>Ben.</p>
<p>Her heart flutters. A strong name for a strong Alpha.</p>
<p>
  <em>Ben, Ben, Ben.</em>
</p>
<p>"What's yours?" he asks when he shrugs his shirt on and starts on buttoning his shirt.</p>
<p>Rey's eyes follow the skin of his chest slowly being covered, button by button.</p>
<p>"Rey."</p>
<p>He makes that same low, rumbling sound of amusement he'd made earlier, and Rey quickly decides it's one of the best sounds she's ever heard.</p>
<p>Maybe... maybe it would be fine. He's attractive. He smells amazing. They're obviously physically compatible.</p>
<p>Maybe they'll get along, maybe it was fate.</p>
<p>Maybe being mated wouldn't be <em>such </em>a bad thing.</p>
<p>"Like a... fuck, like a ray of light? An x-ray?" He snorts and then murmurs, "you must have real original parents."</p>
<p>She frowns, but then quickly lets it go. It's not his fault. She can't expect him to know about her parents.</p>
<p>"I guess," she shrugs. "But with an 'e'."</p>
<p>He looks up, confused. "What?"</p>
<p>"My name. Rey, with an 'e'."</p>
<p>He blinks. "With an—<em>oh</em>."</p>
<p>His smile drops and the agitation that was building in her head suddenly peaks, becoming something very close to panic, and it's impossible to ignore.</p>
<p>Rey sits up, her muscles tensing and laughs nervously. "What... what's wrong?"</p>
<p>Ben rubs a hand along his jaw and over his mouth.</p>
<p>"Johnson," he eventually mutters quietly, and she feels her own smile dropping. "Rey... Rey Johnson."</p>
<p>"Yeah. That... that's me." Her voice is quiet now and she feels a deepening sense of dread. "You... know who I am?"</p>
<p>He stares at her for another painfully long moment, and then he mutters, "...fuck."<b></b></p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>DON'T YOU JUDGE ME</p>
<p>Sometimes, I write things, and then I think to myself; what the actual hell are you doing, this is weird as fuck, if anyone you knew irl found this you would die, why are you wasting your time???? And then, I keep going ¯\_(ツ)_/¯</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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